Sighting the Unseen: Transparent UFOs and Transformation Optics

Earlier this year, New Page Books released a UFO anthology called Exposed, Uncovered and Declassified: UFOs and Aliens. This book features articles on ufology from some of the very best out there in the field, including Nick Pope, Marie D. Jones, Nick Redfern, Stanton Friedman, and a number of others. As you might have imagined, I was also featured in this hearty tome of oddities, where the editors allowed me to share my humble insights on proposed ways UFOs might achieve the apparent ability to go about unnoticed; true, in many reports, UFO craft seem to be able to vanish into thin air, the possible byproduct of cloaking or invisibility technology.

The reason I say “apparent ability” here is because, while it may appear that UFOs can dissappear (slightly oxymoronic sounding, but bear with me), their presumed disappearances in mid flight, described by a number of witnesses in well documented cases, could represent other facets of their operation. One theory might involve the craft opening dimensional rents in space, which after passing into this alternative dimensional state in such a way, may cause a perceptual illusion that you or I would perceive as literally vanishing.

While we must respect this idea as a possibility, we can’t help but entertain the alternative as well: that these physical craft are equally capable of physical processes that render them invisible to the naked eye. That said, now we’re left with the utterly jocular task of deciphering how the hell they do it… but fear not; as always, I have a few ideas about how this works, as well.

Before getting to the meat of things, I felt it might be appropriate to refer to a report that deals with this, which is quite similar to what my article in the UFOs and Aliens anthology described. This encounter comes to us courtesy of the Illinois Mutual UFO Network, featured at Roger Marsh’s UFO Examiner website:

Standing outside home with friend just talking. Then triangle shaped UFO appeared flying in a steady pace in one direction making humming noise. it had lights arranged in a V-shape along edge of the bottom surface. surface of ship appread transparent yet solid? dull black or grey but also transparent at times. My friend freaked out and yelled “WHAT THE ****” 2 or 3 times and right as he did the UFO became invisible and its humming noise was also no longer heard. as if it completely dissapeared. UFO was only a few hundred feet away and a few hundred feet in the air. Size of maybe a private jet or a little bigger.

This raw, unedited report does seem to describe a craft that was able to physically disappear, perhaps in response to the witnesses expressing such excitement in it’s presence. Immediately, the humming sound is of interest: we could speculate that while this could have been produced by some variety of engine or other function operating within the craft, this noise could also have been the byproduct of some electrical processes taking place within, or even around the exterior of the craft. In my New Page essay, titled “Cosmic Peeping Toms: UFOs and Invisibility,” the general theory I put forth is that some UFO craft (possibly even those which emanate from right here on Earth) could be utilizing an exterior that is composed of what are known presently as metamaterials. These would essentially constitute metals or similar substances that can change aspects of their physical appearance in the presence of an electric current or field. Another unique characteristic when it comes to potential cloaking technology that involves electromagnetism involve studies conducted over the last decade or so that involve strong electromagnetic fields produced around the exterior of an aircraft, which might be capable of “bending” visible light around a solid object; the result would be that the craft would essentially become see-through, as though there were no object present at all (this effect might even work in conjunction with the aforementioned meta-material technology I referenced).

Finally, if we were indeed to suppose that there is some kind of electromagnetic element underlying the UFO phenomenon, this could also explain the glowing effect they often are described having at night. A strong electromagnetic field around the exterior of a metallic craft could certainly cause colorful, ionizing plasmas to manifest just as well; an interesting byproduct of the same processes that might render them invisible in daylight.

These are only a few general ideas about the subject of UFO invisibility, something I’ve touched on before in the past here at Mysterious Universe and at The Gralien Report. Of course, I go a good bit more in-depth with this idea and related source materials in the New Page Books anthology I’ve referenced above. For those interested in investigating further, I’ve included a link to it’s page at the New Page Books site for you here.

Micah Hanks is a writer, podcaster, and researcher whose interests cover a variety of subjects. His areas of focus include history, science, philosophy, current events, cultural studies, technology, unexplained phenomena, and ways the future of humankind may be influenced by science and innovation in the coming decades. In addition to writing, Micah hosts the Middle Theory and Gralien Report podcasts.